BEDI Resources
Definitions & Key Terms
Nationalism: Initial uses of the term used nationalism to convey a sentiment and commitment toward one's nation, which was nearly interchangeable with the term patriotism. The transitioning political and social environment of the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, which paralleled shifts away from allegiance to a particular church, signaled a turn toward the now centuries-long discussion of nationalism as a complex sociopolitical movement. In addition to discussing nationalism as a political principle, nationalism can also be understood as a feeling or sentiment that develops in support of that political principle and/or when the principle is challenged or eradicated. Encyclopedia of Diversity and Social Justice
Nativism: In general, nativism is a form of ethnocentrism that considers previous residence in a country or region to constitute a claim to superiority in culture or a higher class of citizenship. In the United States, nativism has been defined as “the intense opposition to an internal minority on the grounds of its allegedly un-American characteristics” (Higham 1963). This fear and hatred of “aliens” in the United States has been typically directed against religious or ethnic minorities and political radicals. Despite having expelled and dispersed the previous residents and being surrounded by other ethnicities, races and religions, nativists have viewed themselves as somehow special—“Anglo Saxons” and other Protestant descendents of northern and western European settlers—the only people worthy of being called “American.”
Nativists always seem to have felt that they were the only “real” Americans; in fact, they dismissed indigenous groups, like so many others, as inferiors. Encyclopedia of Race and Racism
Xenophobia: Xenophobia causes individuals to believe that foreign people are somehow going to disrupt the normal way of life for the majority population. Hence, people have an intense avoidance reaction. People with xenophobia often display anger, fear, and bigotry. Extreme levels of these attitudes can lead to innocent people being victimized, both emotionally and physically. Encyclopedia of Diversity and Social Justice
Nationality & Nativism
Dream Chasers by
How the immigration battle plays out in America, from curriculum disputes to federal raids to the civil rights activism of young "Dreamers." Illegal immigration continues to roil American politics. The right-wing media stir up panic over "anchor babies," job stealing, welfare dependence, bilingualism, al-Qaeda terrorists disguised as Latinos, even a conspiracy by Latinos to "retake" the Southwest. State and local governments have passed more than 300 laws that attempt to restrict undocumented immigrants' access to hospitals, schools, food stamps, and driver's licenses. Federal immigration authorities stage factory raids that result in arrests, deportations, and broken families--and leave owners scrambling to fill suddenly open jobs. The DREAM Act, which would grant permanent residency to high school graduates brought here as minors, is described as "amnesty." And yet polls show that a majority of Americans support some kind of path to citizenship for those here illegally. What is going on? In this book, John Tirman shows how the resistance to immigration in America is more cultural than political. Although cloaked in language about jobs and secure borders, the cultural resistance to immigration expresses a fear that immigrants are changing the dominant white, Protestant, "real American" culture. Tirman describes the "raid mentality" of our response to immigration, which seeks violent solutions for a social phenomenon. He considers the culture clash over Chicano ethnic studies in Tucson, examines the consequences of an immigration raid in New Bedford, and explores the civil rights activism of young "Dreamers." The current "round them up, deport them, militarize the border" approach, Tirman shows, solves nothing.
ISBN: 9780262028929Publication Date: 2015-03-13
El Despertar del Sueño Americano by
"¡CIUDADANOS E INMIGRANTES RECIÉN LLEGADOS DEBERÍAN LEER ESTE LIBRO!" Estados Unidos venera su origen inmigrante, pero se está hundiendo en un sentimiento antiinmigrante extraordi¬nario. Esta es una llamada de atención para el bien del país y TODOS sus ciudadanos. POR PRIMERA VEZ EN SU HISTORIA MODERNA, Estados Unidos se está convirtiendo en un país hostil hacia el recién llegado. El despertar del sueño americano nos muestra cómo el tono negativo y las prácticas antiinmigrantes de hoy amenazan la estabilidad social y económica de un país que se hizo grande gracias a los mismos extranjeros, quienes arribaron en todas sus épocas para trabajar en los oficios más duros y necesarios, permitiendo el progreso de los que llegaron antes. PILAR MARRERO, reportera y editora del diario La Opinión, es una de las periodistas hispanas más solicitadas en Estados Unidos, sirviendo de analista para noticieros en español e inglés como CNN, CNN en español, BBC World, NBC Channel 4 News en Los Ángeles y Al Punto con Jorge Ramos de Univisión, entre otros. Actualmente vive en Los Ángeles, California.
ISBN: 9780983139041Publication Date: 2012-05-01
Go Back to Where You Came From by
This is just one of the many warm, lovely, and helpful tips that Wajahat Ali and other children of immigrants receive on a daily basis. Go back where, exactly? Fremont, California, where he grew up, but is now an unaffordable place to live? Or Pakistan, the country his parents left behind a half-century ago? Growing up living the suburban American dream, young Wajahat devoured comic books (devoid of brown superheroes) and fielded well-intentioned advice from uncles and aunties. ("Become a doctor!") He had turmeric stains under his fingernails, was accident-prone, suffered from OCD, and wore Husky pants, but he was as American as his neighbors, with roots all over the world. Then, while Ali was studying at University of California, Berkeley, 9/11 happened. Muslims replaced communists as America's enemy #1, and he became an accidental spokesman and ambassador of all ordinary, unthreatening things Muslim-y. Now a middle-aged dad, Ali has become one of the foremost and funniest public intellectuals in America. In Go Back to Where You Came From, he tackles the dangers of Islamophobia, white supremacy, and chocolate hummus, peppering personal stories with astute insights into national security, immigration, and pop culture. In this refreshingly bold, hopeful, and uproarious memoir, Ali offers indispensable lessons for cultivating a more compassionate, inclusive, and delicious America.
ISBN: 9780393867978Publication Date: 2022-01-25
The Good Immigrant by
By turns heartbreaking and hilarious, troubling and uplifting, these "electric" essays come together to create a provocative, conversation-sparking, multivocal portrait of modern America (The Washington Post). From Trump's proposed border wall and travel ban to the marching of white supremacists in Charlottesville, America is consumed by tensions over immigration and the question of which bodies are welcome. In this much-anticipated follow-up to the bestselling UK edition, hailed by Zadie Smith as "lively and vital," editors Nikesh Shukla and Chimene Suleyman hand the microphone to an incredible range of writers whose humanity and right to be here is under attack. Chigozie Obioma unpacks an Igbo proverb that helped him navigate his journey to America from Nigeria. Jenny Zhang analyzes cultural appropriation in 90s fashion, recalling her own pain and confusion as a teenager trying to fit in. Fatimah Asghar describes the flood of memory and emotion triggered by an encounter with an Uber driver from Kashmir. Alexander Chee writes of a visit to Korea that changed his relationship to his heritage. These writers, and the many others in this urgent collection, share powerful personal stories of living between cultures and languages while struggling to figure out who they are and where they belong.
ISBN: 9780316524285Publication Date: 2019-02-19
The Guarded Gate by
NAMED ONE OF THE "100 NOTABLE BOOKS OF THE YEAR" BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW "An extraordinary book, I can't recommend it highly enough." -Whoopi Goldberg, The View By the widely celebrated New York Times bestselling author of Last Call--the powerful, definitive, and timely account of how the rise of eugenics helped America close the immigration door to "inferiors" in the 1920s. A forgotten, dark chapter of American history with implications for the current day, The Guarded Gate tells the story of the scientists who argued that certain nationalities were inherently inferior, providing the intellectual justification for the harshest immigration law in American history. Brandished by the upper class Bostonians and New Yorkers--many of them progressives--who led the anti-immigration movement, the eugenic arguments helped keep hundreds of thousands of Jews, Italians, and other unwanted groups out of the US for more than 40 years. Over five years in the writing, The Guarded Gate tells the complete story from its beginning in 1895, when Henry Cabot Lodge and other Boston Brahmins launched their anti-immigrant campaign. In 1921, Vice President Calvin Coolidge declared that "biological laws" had proven the inferiority of southern and eastern Europeans; the restrictive law was enacted three years later. In his characteristic style, both lively and authoritative, Okrent brings to life the rich cast of characters from this time, including Lodge's closest friend, Theodore Roosevelt; Charles Darwin's first cousin, Francis Galton, the idiosyncratic polymath who gave life to eugenics; the fabulously wealthy and profoundly bigoted Madison Grant, founder of the Bronx Zoo, and his best friend, H. Fairfield Osborn, director of the American Museum of Natural History; Margaret Sanger, who saw eugenics as a sensible adjunct to her birth control campaign; and Maxwell Perkins, the celebrated editor of Hemingway and Fitzgerald. A work of history relevant for today, The Guarded Gate is an important, insightful tale that painstakingly connects the American eugenicists to the rise of Nazism, and shows how their beliefs found fertile soil in the minds of citizens and leaders both here and abroad.
ISBN: 9781476798035Publication Date: 2019-05-07
Handcuffs and Chain Link by
Handcuffs and Chain Link enters the immigration debate by addressing one of its most controversial aspects: the criminalization both of extralegal immigration to the United States and of immigrants themselves in popular and political discourse. Looking at the factors that led up to criminalization, Benjamin Gonzalez O'Brien points to the alternative approach of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 and how its ultimate demise served to negatively reinforce the fictitious association of extralegal immigrants with criminality. Crucial to Gonzalez O'Brien's account thus is the concept of the critical policy failure--a piece of legislation that attempts a radically different approach to a major issue but has shortcomings that ultimately further entrench the approach it was designed to supplant. The IRCA was just such a piece of legislation. It highlighted the contributions of the undocumented and offered amnesty to some while attempting to stem the flow of extralegal immigration by holding employers accountable for hiring the undocumented. The failure of this effort at decriminalization prompted a return to criminalization with a vengeance, leading to the stalemate on immigration policy that persists to this day.
ISBN: 9780813941325Publication Date: 2018-07-25
Identity and Intolerance by
In a world of increasingly heterogeneous societies, matters of identity politics and the links between collective identities and national, racial, or ethnic intolerance have assumed dramatic significance - and have stimulated an enormous body of research and literature which rarely transcends the limitations of a national perspective, however, and thus reproduces the limitations of its own topic. Comparative attempts are rare, if not altogether absent. Identity and Intolerance attempts to shift the focus toward comparison in order to show how German and American societies have historically confronted matters of national, racial, and ethnic inclusion and exclusion. This perspective sheds light on the specific links between the cultural construction of nationhood and otherness, the political modes of integration and exclusion, and the social conditions of tolerance and intolerance. The contributors also attempt to integrate the approaches offered by the history of ideas and ideologies, social history, and discourse theory.
ISBN: 0521591589Publication Date: 1998-08-13
The Latino Threat by
News media and pundits too frequently perpetuate the notion that Latinos, particularly Mexicans, are an invading force bent on reconquering land once their own and destroying the American way of life. In this book, Leo R. Chavez contests this assumption's basic tenets, offering facts to counter the many fictions about the "Latino threat." With new discussion about anchor babies, the DREAM Act, and recent anti-immigrant legislation in Arizona and other states, this expanded second edition critically investigates the stories about recent immigrants to show how prejudices are used to malign an entire population--and to define what it means to be American.
ISBN: 9780804783514Publication Date: 2013-04-17
Not Fit for Our Society by
In a book of deep and telling ironies, Peter Schrag provides essential background for understanding the fractious debate over immigration. Covering the earliest days of the Republic to current events, Schrag sets the modern immigration controversy within the context of three centuries of debate over the same questions about who exactly is fit for citizenship. He finds that nativism has long colored our national history, and that the fear--and loathing--of newcomers has provided one of the faultlines of American cultural and political life. Schrag describes the eerie similarities between the race-based arguments for restricting Irish, German, Slav, Italian, Jewish, and Chinese immigrants in the past and the arguments for restricting Latinos and others today. He links the terrible history of eugenic "science" to ideas, individuals, and groups now at the forefront of the fight against rational immigration policies. Not Fit for Our Society makes a powerful case for understanding the complex, often paradoxical history of immigration restriction as we work through the issues that inform, and often distort, the debate over who can become a citizen, who decides, and on what basis.
ISBN: 9780520259782Publication Date: 2010-05-01
Of Fear and Strangers: a History of Xenophobia by
Winner of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award A Bloomberg Best Nonfiction Book of 2021 A startling work of historical sleuthing and synthesis, Of Fear and Strangers reveals the forgotten histories of xenophobia--and what they mean for us today. By 2016, it was impossible to ignore an international resurgence of xenophobia. What had happened? Looking for clues, psychiatrist and historian George Makari started out in search of the idea's origins. To his astonishment, he discovered an unfolding series of never-told stories. While a fear and hatred of strangers may be ancient, he found that the notion of a dangerous bias called "xenophobia" arose not so long ago. Coined by late-nineteenth-century doctors and political commentators and popularized by an eccentric stenographer, xenophobia emerged alongside Western nationalism, colonialism, mass migration, and genocide. Makari chronicles the concept's rise, from its popularization and perverse misuse to its spread as an ethical principle in the wake of a series of calamites that culminated in the Holocaust, and its sudden reappearance in the twenty-first century. He investigates xenophobia's evolution through the writings of figures such as Joseph Conrad, Albert Camus, and Richard Wright, and innovators like Walter Lippmann, Sigmund Freud, Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, and Frantz Fanon. Weaving together history, philosophy, and psychology, Makari offers insights into varied, related ideas such as the conditioned response, the stereotype, projection, the Authoritarian Personality, the Other, and institutional bias. Masterful, original, and elegantly written, Of Fear and Strangers offers us a unifying paradigm by which we might more clearly comprehend how irrational anxiety and contests over identity sweep up groups and lead to the dark headlines of division so prevalent today.
ISBN: 9780393652017Publication Date: 2021-09-14
One Mighty and Irresistible Tide: the Epic Struggle over American Immigration, 1924-1965 by
Winner of the Zócalo Book Prize Shortlisted for the Arthur Ross Book Award Longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice A "powerful and cogent" (Bethanne Patrick, Washington Post) account of the twentieth-century battle for immigration reform that set the stage for today's roiling debates. The idea of the United States as a nation of immigrants is at the core of the American narrative. But in 1924, Congress instituted a system of ethnic quotas so stringent that it choked off large-scale immigration for decades, sharply curtailing arrivals from southern and eastern Europe and outright banning those from nearly all of Asia. In a riveting narrative filled with a fascinating cast of characters, from the indefatigable congressman Emanuel Celler and senator Herbert Lehman to the bull-headed Nevada senator Pat McCarran, Jia Lynn Yang recounts how lawmakers, activists, and presidents from Truman through LBJ worked relentlessly to abolish the 1924 law. Through a world war, a refugee crisis after the Holocaust, and a McCarthyist fever, a coalition of lawmakers and activists descended from Jewish, Irish, and Japanese immigrants fought to establish a new principle of equality in the American immigration system. Their crowning achievement, the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act, proved to be one of the most transformative laws in the country's history, opening the door to nonwhite migration at levels never seen before--and changing America in ways that those who debated it could hardly have imagined. Framed movingly by her own family's story of immigration to America, Yang's One Mighty and Irresistible Tide is a deeply researched and illuminating work of history, one that shows how Americans have strived and struggled to live up to the ideal of a home for the "huddled masses," as promised in Emma Lazarus's famous poem.
ISBN: 9780393635850Publication Date: 2020-05-19
One Quarter of the Nation by
An in-depth look at the many ways immigration has redefined modern America The impact of immigrants over the past half century has become so much a part of everyday life in the United States that we sometimes fail to see it. This deeply researched book by one of America's leading immigration scholars tells the story of how immigrants are fundamentally changing this country. An astonishing number of immigrants and their children--nearly eighty-six million people--now live in the United States. Together, they have transformed the American experience in profound and far-reaching ways that go to the heart of the country's identity and institutions. Unprecedented in scope, One Quarter of the Nation traces how immigration has reconfigured America's racial order--and, importantly, how Americans perceive race--and played a pivotal role in reshaping electoral politics and party alignments. It discusses how immigrants have rejuvenated our urban centers as well as some far-flung rural communities, and examines how they have strengthened the economy, fueling the growth of old industries and spurring the formation of new ones. This wide-ranging book demonstrates how immigration has touched virtually every facet of American culture, from the music we dance to and the food we eat to the films we watch and books we read. One Quarter of the Nation opens a new chapter in our understanding of immigration. While many books look at how America changed immigrants, this one examines how they changed America. It reminds us that immigration has long been a part of American society, and shows how immigrants and their families continue to redefine who we are as a nation.
ISBN: 9780691206394Publication Date: 2022-02-08
Revoking Citizenship by
Reveals America's long history of making both naturalized immigrants and native-born citizens un-American after stripping away their citizenship Expatriation, or the stripping away citizenship and all the rights that come with it, is usually associated with despotic and totalitarian regimes. The imagery of mass expulsion of once integral members of the community is associated with civil wars, ethnic cleansing, the Holocaust, or other oppressive historical events. Yet these practices are not just a product of undemocratic events or extreme situations, but are standard clauses within the legal systems of most democratic states, including the United States. Witness, for example, Yaser Esam Hamdi, captured in Afghanistan in November 2001, sent to Guantánamo, transferred to a naval brig in South Carolina when it was revealed that he was a U.S. citizen, and held there without trial until 2004, when the Justice Department released Hamdi to Saudi Arabia without charge on the condition that he renounce his U.S. citizenship. Hamdi's story may be the best known expatriation story in recent memory, but in Revoking Citizenship, Ben Herzog reveals America's long history of making both naturalized immigrants and native-born citizens un-American after their citizenship was stripped away. Tracing this history from the early republic through the Cold War, Herzog locates the sociological, political, legal, and historic meanings of revoking citizenship. Why, when, and with what justification do states take away citizenship from their subjects? Should loyalty be judged according to birthplace or actions? Using the history and policies of revoking citizenship as a lens, Revoking Citizenship examines, describes, and analyzes the complex relationships between citizenship, immigration, and national identity.
ISBN: 9780814760383Publication Date: 2015-02-06
Strangers in the Land by
Higham's work stands as the seminal work in the history of American nativism. The work is a careful, well-documented study of nationalism and ethnic prejudice, and chronicles the power and violence of these two ideas in American society from 1860 to 1925. He significantly moves beyond previous treatments of nativism, both in chronology and in interpretive sophistication. Higham defines nativism as a defensive type of nationalism or an intense opposition to an internal minority on the grounds of the group's foreign connections. By defining nativism as a set of attitudes or a state of mind, he sets the course for his book as tracing "trace an emotionally charged impulse" rather than "an actual social process or condition." As he argues that the ideological content of nativism remained consistent, he uses emotional intensity as a measure to trace in detail public opinion from the relative calm following the Civil War to the Johnson-Reed act of 1924 that severely limited European immigration. Strangers in the Land is, then, a history of public opinion, whose purpose is to show how nativism evolved in society and in action. Higham seeks to explain what could inflame xenophobia and who resisted it. He saw his work as part of a renewed interest in the study of nationalism following the national upheavals in the wake of the McCarthy hearings. Surely Higham's mentor at the University of Wisconsin, intellectual historian Merle Curti, influenced Higham's approach in seeking to examine the power of nationalism as an idea. Also influential was the intellectual climate of the 1950s with its of distrust of ideology and distain of prejudice. Higham admits being repelled by the nationalist delusions of the Cold War, again helping to explain why his study concentrates on seeking some explanation for the irrational and violent outbreaks. The book thus focuses on points of conflict, "antagonisms that belong within ideologies of passionate national consciousness." For example, Higham's explains the 100 percent American movement in terms of progressive ideals and the desire of Americans to shape immigrants into a particular ideal of "Americanness" through education and assimilation. This intellectual construct eventually gave way to the racial thinking to which Higham assigns much influence in the efforts to restrict immigration. Ideology is also central to his chapter on the history of the idea of racism in which he argues that Anglo-Saxon nationalism, literary naturalism and a nascent understanding of genetics combined to bring forth arguments for immigration restriction to preserve the racial purity of the American people. Thus, key for Higham's argument is the power of ideas in shaping individual behavior and thereby shaping history. This text is an absolute must-read for anyone seeking to understand American nativism and the darker side of nationalism.
ISBN: 0813531233Publication Date: 2002-03-01
There Goes the Neighborhood by
This compelling approach to the immigration debate takes the reader behind the blaring headlines and into communities grappling with the reality of new immigrants and the changing nature of American identity. Ali Noorani, the Executive Director of the National Immigration Forum, interviews nearly fifty local and national leaders from law enforcement, business, immigrant, and faith communities to illustrate the challenges and opportunities they face. From high school principals to church pastors to sheriffs, the author reveals that most people are working to advance society's interests, not exploiting a crisis at the expense of one community. As he shows, some cities and regions have reached a happy conclusion, while others struggle to find balance. Whether describing a pastor preaching to the need to welcome the stranger, a sheriff engaging the Muslim community, or a farmer's wind-whipped face moistened by tears as he tells the story of his farmworkers being deported, the author helps readers to realize that America's immigration debate isn't about policy; it is about the culture and values that make America what it is. The people on the front lines of America's cultural and demographic debate are Southern Baptist pastors in South Carolina, attorneys general in Utah or Indiana, Texas businessmen, and many more. Their combined voices make clear that all of them are working to make America a welcome place for everyone, long-established citizens and new arrivals alike. Especially now, when we feel our identity, culture, and values changing shape, the collective message from all the diverse voices in this inspiring book is one of hope for the future. Now in paperback with a new preface.
ISBN: 9781633885660Publication Date: 2019-05-14
Tropes of Intolerance by
Tropes of Intolerance is a Baedeker of bigotry, a short course on xenophobic racism and populist nationalism - both enduring threats to the social fabric of democratic societies. Each chapter is a self-contained commentary and a building block. In the first, the author considers the concepts of pride and prejudice and discusses patterns of discrimination and strategies of resistance. This is following by an illustrated consideration of the emblems of enmity - words, signs, symbols and other verbal and visual expressions of both chauvinism and intolerance. Linking the first two, the third chapter explores the nature of American Nativism and its contemporary expression. This is followed by an assessment of the exploitation of anxiety among particularly vulnerable sectors of society by skillful, manipulative leaders and their agents and the exacerbation of social divisions by the use of stereotyping, stigmatizing, and labeling. Chapter Five, "Trumped Up," narrows the focus to the present day, the president himself, and his exacerbation of polarizing particularism. A sixth chapter examines two of the most malignant ideologies -- resurgent anti-Semitism and the rise of Islamophobia -- bringing readers full circle. In addition to a brief Coda and a glossary of key terms related to the principal topic, there is a post-election Afterword written in late November, 2020.
ISBN: 9781000290745Publication Date: 2020-12-30
Violent Borders by
An "engaging and lucid analysis" of the refugee crisis, focusing on how borders are formed, policed--and used to inflict violence on the poor (Arun Kundnani, author of The Muslims Are Coming) Forty thousand people have died trying to cross between countries in the past decade, and yet international borders only continue to harden. The United Kingdom has voted to leave the European Union; the United States elected a president who campaigned on building a wall; while elsewhere, the popularity of right-wing antimigrant nationalist political parties is surging. Reece Jones argues that the West has helped bring about the deaths of countless migrants, as states attempt to contain populations and limit access to resources and opportunities. "We may live in an era of globalization," he writes, "but much of the world is increasingly focused on limiting the free movement of people." In Violent Borders, Jones crosses the migrant trails of the world, documenting the billions of dollars spent on border security projects and the dire consequences for countless millions. While the poor are restricted by the lottery of birth to slum dwellings in the ailing decolonized world, the wealthy travel without constraint, exploiting pools of cheap labor and lax environmental regulations. With the growth of borders and resource enclosures, the deaths of migrants in search of a better life are intimately connected to climate change, environmental degradation, and the growth of global wealth inequality.
ISBN: 9781784784713Publication Date: 2016-10-11
White Backlash by
White Backlash provides an authoritative assessment of how immigration is reshaping the politics of the nation. Using an array of data and analysis, Marisa Abrajano and Zoltan Hajnal show that fears about immigration fundamentally influence white Americans' core political identities, policy preferences, and electoral choices, and that these concerns are at the heart of a large-scale defection of whites from the Democratic to the Republican Party. Abrajano and Hajnal demonstrate that this political backlash has disquieting implications for the future of race relations in America. White Americans' concerns about Latinos and immigration have led to support for policies that are less generous and more punitive and that conflict with the preferences of much of the immigrant population. America's growing racial and ethnic diversity is leading to a greater racial divide in politics. As whites move to the right of the political spectrum, racial and ethnic minorities generally support the left. Racial divisions in partisanship and voting, as the authors indicate, now outweigh divisions by class, age, gender, and other demographic measures. White Backlash raises critical questions and concerns about how political beliefs and future elections will change the fate of America's immigrants and minorities, and their relationship with the rest of the nation.
ISBN: 9781400866489Publication Date: 2015-03-22
White Borders by
"This powerful and meticulously argued book reveals that immigration crackdowns ... have always been about saving and protecting the racist idea of a white America." -Ibram X. Kendi, award-winning author of Four Hundred Souls and Stamped from the Beginning "A damning inquiry into the history of the border as a place where race is created and racism honed into a razor-sharp ideology." -Greg Grandin, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The End of the Myth Recent racist anti-immigration policies, from the border wall to the Muslim ban, have left many Americans wondering- How did we get here? In what readers call a "chilling and revelatory" account, Reece Jones reveals the painful answer- although the US is often mythologized as a nation of immigrants, it has a long history of immigration restrictions that are rooted in the racist fear of the "great replacement" of whites with non-white newcomers. After the arrival of the first slave ship in 1619, the colonies that became the United States were based on the dual foundation of open immigration for whites from Northern Europe and the racial exclusion of slaves from Africa, Native Americans, and, eventually, immigrants from other parts of the world. Jones's scholarship shines through his extensive research of the United States' racist and xenophobic underbelly. He connects past and present to uncover the link between the Chinese Exclusion laws of the 1880s, the "Keep America American" nativism of the 1920s, and the "Build the Wall" chants initiated by former president Donald Trump in 2016. Along the way, we meet a bizarre cast of anti-immigration characters, such as John Tanton, Cordelia Scaife May, and Stephen Miller, who pushed fringe ideas about "white genocide" and "race suicide" into mainstream political discourse. Through gripping stories and in-depth analysis of major immigration cases, Jones explores the connections between anti-immigration hate groups and the Republican Party. What is laid bare after his examination is not just the intersection between white supremacy and anti-immigration bias but also the lasting impacts this perfect storm of hatred has had on United States law.
ISBN: 9780807007266Publication Date: 2022-10-18
Background Articles
Popular Articles
Scholarly Articles
- For Educators: Supporting Undocumented Students & Their FamiliesThere are many things that you can do to create educational environments in which students of all backgrounds can thrive socially, emotionally, and academically. Teachers, in particular, can create inclusive and safe learning environments for all students by incorporating lesson plans and classroom activities that are designed to cultivate empathy and trusting relationships, create a sense of belonging, and reduce discriminatory stereotypes and actions.
- Higher Ed Immigration PortalA new digital platform that integrates data, policies, and resources about DACA and undocumented, other immigrant, international, and refugee students to support immigration reform and federal policymaking, fuel change at the state and campus level, and build a diverse movement of partners and stakeholders advocating for these students.
- How You Can be an Immigrant Ally LocallyRecommendations for local policies you can support that will help protect immigrant families
- Immigration and Relocation in U.S. HistoryThe history of the United States has always been shaped by peoples and communities who came to its shores or moved within its borders. Some sought a better life, some fled oppression, and some were moved against their will. This presentation uses Library of Congress primary sources to explore moments and experiences from several of these communities.
- Map The ImpactUse this interactive map to get comprehensive state and local immigration data.
- My Undocumented LifeOur mission at My Undocumented Life is to provide up-to-date information and resources to undocumented students, their families, and allies (including educators, counselors, and administrators). We post scholarship opportunities that are open to undocumented students, strategies for navigating the educational system while undocumented, information on how to apply for DACA, upcoming immigration-related events, news on immigration policies, and much more. Most importantly, we want to provide a sense of community to our diverse group of readers.
- U.S. Immigration TimelineAttitudes and laws around U.S. immigration have vacillated between welcoming and restrictive since the country's beginning.
- Other: A Brief History of American XenophobiaThis film provides an introduction to the concept of xenophobia and introduces patterns of xenophobia in US history, connecting historical experiences and identities that are often considered in isolation. We recommend using it as part of any standard US history course for students in grades 7-12. Because the film itself is only an introduction, it should be followed with opportunities for inquiry about the historical events presented in the narrative.
- U.S. Immigration Policy and the Violation of Human Rights | Michelle Brané | TEDxBerkeleyAs border stops have increased and the U.S. quietly steps up restrictionist immigration policies, the plight of refugees, many of whom are women and children, is only worsening. Despite the clarity of international law regarding the acceptance of refugees, many of whom are fleeing political instability and violence in Central America, the United States refuses to allow these vulnerable populations into the country. As Michelle Brané argues, it doesn’t have to be this way.
- U.S. Immigration | Let's Talk | NPRFor over 200 years the U.S. Immigration policies have determined who the U.S. lets in, and who is shut out. NPR’s Tom Gjelten explains. Read or listen to "What Does Chain Migration Mean? We Get An Explanation" at https://n.pr/2rnvDun
- Immigration and the Rise of Nativism"Nativism," or the resentment of foreigners is revived in the late 19th century as greater numbers of new immigrant groups arrive in America.
- Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC)Working with and educating immigrants, community organizations, and the legal sector to help build a democratic society that values diversity and the rights of all people
- American Immigration CouncilThe American Immigration Council works to strengthen America by shaping how America thinks about and acts towards immigrants and immigration and by working toward a more fair and just immigration system that opens its doors to those in need of protection and unleashes the energy and skills that immigrants bring.
- Immigrants RisingFor more than 15 years, our San Francisco-based organization has transformed individuals and fueled broader changes around the country. With our resources and support, undocumented people are able to get an education, pursue careers, and build a brighter future for themselves and their communities. In 2018, we changed our name to Immigrants Rising to better reflect who we are, what we represent, and where we are headed. Our collective power is helping our nation edge closer to fulfilling its ideal as a land of opportunity and access for all.
- Episode 28: Dreamers and Immigration Policy: Past, Present, FuturedotEDU returns for a second season with Jon Fansmith, Sarah Spreitzer, and ACE’s newest co-host, Mushtaq Gunja. They discuss the state of higher ed policymaking, or the lack of it, as legislators gear up for the election. Later, Sarah and Jon are joined by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, filmmaker, and immigration rights activist, Jose Antonio Vargas to discuss the prospects of DACA in the United States, immigration policy in general, and what colleges and universities can do to help these students who are living in limbo.
- ImmigrantlyWelcome to Immigrantly: a boundary-pushing, border-crossing podcast that gives diverse voices and stories home. Drawing on her own experiences as a rights activist and a first-generation Asian immigrant, creator & host, Saadia Khan tackles the big questions on race, identity & the immigrant experience while challenging mainstream narratives in today's divided America.
- A Better Life?“A Better Life?” explores how America’s failed response to COVID-19 has reshaped immigrants’ lives and their relationship to the United States. Each episode tells a different immigrant story and examines how the crisis has challenged or changed that person’s ideas of what it means to be American. The show also includes conversations with immigrant elders — grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles — to hear how they are coping during this time, and what they have learned over the years that can help the rest of us survive today’s challenges.
- NationalityWhat makes someone American? A landmark Supreme Court case in 1898, involving a child born in San Francisco to Chinese immigrant parents, would help answer that question.